Bring Back the Trays!

It’s still early in the new year, when we may choose to say, “goodbye” to things of the past that we would like to change. To old memories, old habits, 10 extra pounds, and anything else that needs to go or that needs renewal, we can say goodbye and feel like we can start over.

I can find something in several categories to leave behind, both professionally and personally. To keep this short, I’ll just choose one to share.

I’d like to say goodbye to the phrase, “at the end of the day”, because, at the end of the day, the phrase is still there, taunting me. I don’t want to say it anymore and I’m sick of hearing it, quite frankly. Lately, whenever I hear someone use that phrase, I almost burst out laughing. And I don’t want to do that. That would be rude. So, instead, I stifle the laugh and work hard to not smile. If I smiled they would wonder why I’m smiling. They know they didn’t say anything funny. (“Is she laughing at me?” Why, yes, I am, because, at the end of the day, I’m sick and tired of that phrase.) So I don’t even smile. **Sigh**

Whew! It feels good to get that off my chest……let’s switch gears!

I’m more in-tuned to customer service stories and issues these days, including the changes businesses make that either improve or deter from their customer service.

On a Saturday, I wanted to get out of the house to do some writing, to get a change of atmosphere and to perhaps be inspired by different surroundings.

I headed to Borders Books, but they didn’t have enough tables; all were taken. (They’ve had room for more tables for a few years, but haven’t figured that out yet! Or maybe they have, but they don’t want more tables to clean.)

So I went to a place called Corner Bakery. This is an old-fashioned-inspired place owned by a local chain of restaurants. While the other restaurants owned by the chain are sit-down places, Corner Bakery is a walk-up style restaurant where you order your food at a counter, pay for it, and then take it to your table. All they keep on the tables is salt and pepper, so customers have to get everything else they need from a service area. The service area has ice, a soda machine, iced tea, water, napkins, cutlery, sugar, milk, and anything else you would need (except, of course, for salt and pepper, because, as I said, that’s all you find on their tables).

I asked the woman taking my order if they served their tea in pots, and she replied that she didn’t know what I meant. So I asked another employee, who said they did not have teapots. (Border’s does!) They knew I was there “for here” (not “to go”), but my tea was served in a take-out cup. I also ordered something to eat. They handed everything to me over the cash register. I set it down while I put my change back into my wallet, and then I looked around for a tray. (I recalled using a tray every other time I was there.) I didn’t see any trays.

So I asked the two employees behind the counter if they had any trays. They both said no. Hmm. What happened to the trays? Well, one employee said, when they remodeled the kitchen and ordering area, they got rid of the trays.

So I had to pick up the items I purchased, bring them to a table, then go back to the service area to get flatware, napkins, etc., and bring that back to the table.

Being a “tea person” who likes to have her tea “just so”, next, I brought my take-out tea cup to the service area for milk and sugar. After pouring some milk in the cup and breaking open a sugar packet, I deposited the used sugar packet in the garbage slot conveniently located on the counter of the service area (just like Starbucks!). Then I grabbed a spoon, stirred the tea, and looked for a basket or container to place the used spoon. I didn’t find any such container, so I shrugged my shoulders (in my mind, anyway) and left the spoon on the counter of the service area (not like Starbucks!).

Then it was back to the table again. After a couple minutes I realized that the tea was still extremely hot, and I wanted a spoon. (Of course! I should have carried that spoon back to the table with me!). As I got up from the table to go back to the service area, my hip hit the table, spilling sugary tea on the table and on the pen with which I’m writing. Great! So along with the spoon, I grabbed more napkins to clean up the mess.

A tray would have made the whole experience so much easier! What do people who dine at Corner Bakery do when they have their young children with them? Tote the kids back and forth between the front counter, their table, and the service area, carrying as much as they can hold, until they get everything they need?

So my message to Corner Bakery is:
Make your customers’ lives easier when they come to your restaurant – bring back the trays!

At what businesses have you experienced improved or poorer customer service (or other business decisions)? How did that affect your decision to repurchase?

Because, you know, at the end of the day, businesses need their customers to come back and buy again!

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